October 11 (VOA News) – United Nations officials say the capitals of Thailand and Cambodia are at risk as the worst flooding in modern times sweeps through the Mekong Basin. Kirsten Mildren, spokeswoman for the U.N.’s humanitarian affairs agency, told VOA Tuesday that officials in Bangkok are taking urgent measures as the floodwaters bear down […]
By David Wroe10 October 2011 AUSTRALIA’S ski slopes could be completely bare of natural winter snow by 2050 unless concerted action is taken against global warming, according to a government-commissioned report that paints a grim picture of the effects of climate change on alpine areas. The report, Caring For Our Australian Alps Catchments [pdf], has […]
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor11 October 2011 Climate sceptics are winning the argument with the public over global warming, the world’s most celebrated climate scientist, James Hansen of NASA, said in London yesterday. It is happening even though climate science itself is becoming ever clearer in showing that the earth is in increasing danger from […]
Rome, October 10 (FAO) – Food price volatility featuring high prices is likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity, the United Nations’ three Rome-based agencies said in the global hunger report published today. Small, import-dependent countries, particularly in Africa, are especially at risk. […]
By Jeff Masters10 October 2011 A slow-moving low pressure system brought the heaviest rains of the year to large portions of rain-starved Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas over the weekend. Radar-estimated rainfall amounts reached eight inches over portions of Texas between Dallas and Abilene. Houston got 20% of their rain for the entire year–3.02″–on Sunday, breaking […]
By Seth Koenig, BDN Staff7 October 2011 SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — They’re called dead muds. Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere combined with unregulated nitrogen pollution are having a deadly effect on Maine’s shellfish, some researchers say. Scientists are starting to measure the impact of increasingly acidic waters on coastal organisms, and what […]
By Khettiya Jittapong, Kochakorn Boonlai, and Wilawan Pongpitak; Editing by Alan Raybould and Ed Lane (Reuters) – Nearly 200 factories, including one run by Japanese car maker Honda Motor Co Ltd, closed in the central Thai province of Ayutthaya because of flooding, which could threaten Bangkok this week, officials said on Sunday. About 261 people […]
By Mike Lee; Editors: Susan Warren, Joe Winski6 October 2011 Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) – An intensifying drought in Texas is prompting limits on water consumption that for the first time target oil and natural gas producers. Local water districts, which have authority to allocate water from subterranean aquifers, are adding a water-intensive production method called […]
By Zoe Daniel8 October 2011 EMILY BOURKE: Record flooding in Thailand is set to worsen as massive volumes of water move from the north to the sea. More than 2.5 million people have now been affected and almost 250 killed by the flooding which is said to be the worst in the country’s modern history. […]
By Wang Xiaocong30 September 2011 (Beijing) – Acute power shortages will continue in parts of China in the upcoming winter and spring seasons, particularly in the southern and central regions where most of the country’s hydropower power stations are located, an energy official told a press conference on September 29. According to the State Electricity […]
